Last week involved a couple of round tables hosted by Minister of Universities and Science David Willetts,  the first on collaborations with China and the second on e-infrastructure (a topic that is a regular feature of this blog). Both are very important topics. BBSRC has long enabled collaborations with China through a number of schemes, such as the International Scientific Interchange Scheme and China Partnering Awards scheme. I myself was awarded one of the latter in 2004, and a number of papers, such as one on particle swarm optimization ensued. There is no doubt, that with a population some 23 times that of the UK, a buoyant economy and a large cadre of numerate scientists, China is likely to be a very important partner for the UK.
Continue reading: Science, tachyons, China and e-infrastructure

We continue to maintain a serious interest in Open Science, which includes Open Access to data, to the literature and so on, driven by the recognition that new, different and potentially better kinds of (e-)science can emerge when one has digital access to such resources. Last week I attended a double header on these themes. The first was a Royal Society Open Science meeting, part of an enquiry the Society is carrying out into this space. Two sessions explored, respectively, ‘Why do Open Science?’ and ‘How to do Open Science?’. An evening meeting the same day held by the Foundation for Science and Technology explored the theme ‘Can better use be made of public data, for example in health research?’. The speakers were Paul Boyle, CE of the ESRC, Baroness (Onora) O’Neill of Bengarve, and Stephen Penneck, Director General of the Office for National Statistics. Paul gave a number of examples by which publicly available data, suitably anonymised, could give considerable insights into public health and epidemiological issues. One example was a study illustrating the role of environmental pollution in the incidence of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Finland (a disease for which there is indeed significant evidence for the involvement of iron), while another showed the benefits of long-term studies (albeit assuming that statins work just via lowering LDL cholesterol, whereas much evidence suggests that they act more as anti-inflammatories). Baroness O’Neill covered the complex (and in some ways contradictory) legal issues surrounding the use of data, while Stephen Penneck took us through some of the many datasets that ONS is making freely available. I note too that my own recent presentation on Biofuels at the Foundation is now online, as is the latest analysis of the role of transporters in the cellular uptake of pharmaceutical drugs.
Continue reading: Open data, science and celebrations

Last week saw the splendid and welcome announcement in the Budget (pdf) of a new investment of £100M in science capital infrastructure for growth, with £70M of that earmarked for the Norwich Research Park (£26M) and the Babraham Research Campus (£44M). This is a magnificent recognition of the importance of BBSRC science to our potential economic prosperity as part of the Knowledge-Based BioEconomy. We shall now be working hard to develop the details of these investments so that the benefits may be realised as quickly as possible.

Another celebratory occasion was the culmination at the Bioscience for Growth networking event of our Innovator of the Year and Excellence with Impact competitions. I had no direct involvement in these, so I was as eager as the competitors to know the results. As ever, we had a huge array of exciting scientific and other activities on display (focussing for each entry on an ‘iconic’ object), and we were delighted that Minister for Science and Universities David Willetts was able both to present the prizes and to spend a considerable amount of his time conversing with the exhibitors. 
Continue reading: Celebrating the breadth of biology and its impacts

Apart from a considerable amount of shortlisting and interviewing for various posts, my first main visit of the week was to Rothamsted Research, which bills itself as “the largest agricultural research centre in the United Kingdom and almost certainly the oldest agricultural research station in the world”, starting from its time as the Rothamsted Experimental Station. I was shown a great many exciting areas of science, from food and non-food crop improvements including novel means for water, carbon and nutrient sequestration in plant roots, through metagenomics and farm platform technology. Rothamsted is anticipated to be a major player in our delivery of improved crops for global food security.

We also had a very useful meeting with the Office for Life Sciences, concentrating in particular on our strategies for industrial biotechnology and bioenergy as part of the Knowledge-Based BioEconomy.
Continue reading: Rothamsted Research, the Office for Life Sciences and the Campaign for Science and Engineering